Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 JACKSON, Miss. – The Nicholls State University softball team picked up a sweep over Jackson State with 7-4 and 9-5 victories on Tuesday night at the JSU Softball Complex.
 
With the sweep, the Colonels improved to 30-14 on the year, giving the program its first 30-win campaign since 2009. Jackson State fell to 6-25 overall, with four losses coming against Nicholls.
 
The Colonels will look to stay in the thick of the Southland Conference race as they host Northwestern State for a three-game set, starting Friday night at 6 p.m.
 
Game 1 – Nicholls 7, Jackson State 4
 
The home team looked well on its way to cooling off the red-hot Colonels, but Nicholls rallied with six runs in the seventh inning to defeat Jackson State, 7-4.
 
The Colonels had 12 hits in the win, with five coming in the final frame which erased a 4-1 deficit. Haley Parkerson, Amanda Gianelloni, Gretchen Morgan and Haley Stevenson all had two hits each for the game, and the Haleys combined for five RBIs as they came up big in the decisive inning.
 
Veronica Villafranco, who was 6-of-7 at the plate in the series against UIW last weekend, cut the lead in half with a RBI single to right, and Alexis Huss pulled Nicholls within one with a pinch-hit run-scoring base hit. With the bases loaded, Stevenson delivered a single to left center to put the Red and Gray ahead 5-4. Parkerson then capped the frame with a 2-run double for a 7-4 advantage.
 
Hannah Haydel (16-7), who allowed three earned on eight hits in her 14th complete game, gave up a single and a walk in the seventh before going on to pick up the win.
 
The Lady Tigers jumped on Haydel early, using four hits and an error to take a 3-0 lead after two innings. Nicholls scored in the top of the fourth on a Stevenson single, but JSU got the run back in the sixth on a solo home run by Denisha Knight. However, the Colonels' magical season continued with another late-inning victory.
 
Game 2 – Nicholls 9, Jackson State 5
 
The Colonels built a 6-0 lead over JSU after four-and-half innings but had to fend out a late comeback attempt as Nicholls held on for a 9-5 victory.
 
The Lady Tigers scored three in the fifth and two in the sixth to make it a one-run game before the Colonels added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
 
Megan Landry (13-6) picked up the win for the Colonels, scattering 10 hits in six innings of work. She struck out six batters and two of her five runs were earned. Taylor Hastings pitched the seventh, allowing a lone one-out walk.
 
The teams combined for 23 hits, with Nicholls accounting for 13. Jessica Taylor led the way with a 3-for-4 outing, and Gianelloni had two hits including her team-high sixth homer of the season. Villafranco added two hits, as did Danielle Phillips who also drove in two.
 
Gianelloni's home run led off the third and Parkerson singled home Taylor in the fourth. The Colonels then put up a four-spot in the fifth, started on a RBI single by Brooke Morris. Taylor drove in two more for a 5-0 lead and Phillips drew a bases loaded walk to make it a six-run game.
 
After JSU's two big innings put the score at 6-5, Phillips and Villafranco each doubled home a run in the seventh, and Caitlyn Carroll added an RBI infield single to make the final.